This is "Wacken Open Air"
the biggest gathering of Metalheads in the world...
each year over 60000 devoted fans come to camp out on the fields of the northern Germany
to worship their favorite Metal bands...
and whether you've come to see Death Metal, Power Metal, Black Metal, Goth Metal... or even Viking Metal
if you're a die-hard Metal fan,
this is the place to be...
[METALLICA : Fight Fire With Fire]
this is me, my name is Sam Dunn
and as you can see, I'm one of the die-hard Metal fans...
ever since I was 12 years old I've been obessed with all things Metal
and although my parents hoped it was a phase, it wasn't...
I grew up, got my graduate degree in Anthropology
and then decided to make a documentary about Heavy Metal culture
in the film I traced the music back to its working class roots in the factory towns of England and America
and the showed how Early Metal bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Blue Cheer
layed the foundation for crazy number of Metal subgenres
along the way, I met some of my childhood heroes
and spoke to the tons of musicians about the controversy surrounding this music...
Satan !
I also heard from hundreds of Metal fans about what this music means to them...
from the time I was 12 years old Metal was just a constant...
and what I discovered is this underground movement is even bigger than I first thought...
and for Metalhead its about more than just music...
it's an identity...
after the film was released
I got a flood of emails from Metal fans thanking me for giving this community the respect it deserves...
but what surprised me, was how many different countries the e-mails came from
many were from places I had no idea Metal even existed
I mean I knew there was Metal outside of Europe and North America
one of my favorite bands is Sepultura from Brazil
I also have Metal albums recorded live in Japan...
but the stories in these e-mails got me thinking
for years anthropologists have studied the effects of Globalization
but I've never considered Heavy Metal's role in this process
as Metal has spreaded across the globe
what new meanings is it taking on for fans and countries...
...with such vastly different cultural, political and religious backgrounds?
clearly, there's whole world of Metal out there I know nothing about...
but I'm not gonna find answers on the fields of northen Germany
so I am taking my anthropology studies on the road
to understand how Metal has gone Global...
"Global Metal"
( Only way to feel the noise, is when it's good and loud )
( So good I can't believe it, screaming with the crowd )
( Don't sweat it, give it back to you )
(Overkill, Overkill, Overkill...)
(Get the fuck out...)
[MOTORHEAD : Overkill]
<<< Subtitles Transcribed By Ehsun Safari >>> angryagain_e@yahoo.com
(Rio De Ganeiro, Brazil)
"We should have our own identity"
the first stop on my journey is Brazil the largest country in Latin America
and a place most people associate with beaches, soccer and Samba
but if you ask any Metal fan, they'll tell you that it's also known for its massive Metal scene
so what happened to make Metal so huge in this country?
[Carlos Lopes / Dorsal Atlantica] the people in the 70's lived under a dictatorship in Brazil
we had this dictatorship for almost 25 years
during this dictatorship there was not a lot of freedom and it wasn't easy to access information
[Rafael Bittencourt/Angra] on that period, when we were teenagers,
it was very hard to find good instruments
the market was very closed, for everything then comes from abroad
the Brazilian dictatorship ended in 1985
at that moment the bands were starting to release their first albums of Brazilian Heavy Metal
and what that means is that Heavy Metal came along with democracy
[SCORPIONS /Rock In Rio / January 15, 1985]
[Claudia Azevedo / University of Rio De Janeiro] I think the organizers of Rock In Rio fell to the momentum
and they organized this festival which was huge...
there were 1.380.000 people during ten days
and it was the first time, you know, everyone knew what a Metalhead was
and there were so many...
[SCORPIONS : Rock You Like A Hurricane]
it may seem funny to you today, wanting to see Whitesnake...
it's a little ridiculous, but seeing Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions and Iron Maiden
was overwhelming for a Brazilian in 1985
I wouldn't say that Metal came to free us but...
I would say that it was something that we were begging for...
we were begging to have that atmosphere of freedom of speech... freedom of communication
[IRON MAIDEN : 2 Minutes To Midnight]
we had to fly by helicopter, because to get there, all the roads were blocked and stuff...
[Adrian Smith / IRON MAIDEN / Dave Murray] as we were getting closer and closer,
you could kinda see, kinda blue-like smoke coming up in the air...
and what it was, it was actually the steam rising off the bodies, off the crowd...
so all in sync were having a great time...
you would see a multitude of people lose themselves
it seemed like we were part of something bigger than us
we felt like we were part of a big family... of a religion...
and people started to imagine that this could be the music
...and the soundtrack of the moment that brazil became a new and free country...
here we are, we're in Sao Paulo, Brazil we're at the Grande Galerias
Otherwise known as the Galleria to Rock
and... I guess you know Metal is huge in a country
when there's a whole mall devoted to it...
I first heard Sepultura when I must have been around 13 or 14 years old
it was hard to believe that there was Metal actually coming out of Brazil
it seemed like it was coming from so far away from a place that was really so different...
[SEPULTURA : Beneath The Remains]
Sepultura's founder, Max Cavalera is one of my All Time Metal Heroes...
and finally I get to ask him what is was like to starting out as an Extreme Metal band in Brazil
[Max Cavalera] well, the thing was the struggle actually
from our own struggle, we didn't know how to play but we wanted to a have a band
then we didn't have money...
but we really wanted to be in a band
the money was never a problem, you know you go around somehow... you figure out
even how we look, we find ways
when we saw the Destruction album covers, they had bullet-belts...
we have to look like those guys man, we look like shit, we look stupid, we need bullet-belts...
i think that Igor came up with the idea
well, let's get some bunch of AA batteries, glue them together,
take the picture from far they would look like bullet-belts...
I was like "you must be nuts", it's not gonna work he was like "yeah it'll work"
and he worked on those batteries for like a couple of days and then they looked perfect, they looked great...
i was like "man, cool, now we got bullet-belt... what's next?"
[SEPULTURA / Rock In Rio II / January 23, 1991]
it was crazy, man the Brazilian crowd just went nuts from the first note...
you know, the entire stadium went crazy, mosh-pit...
my head's going a thousand miles and I was like...
..."this is my country, this is where I grew up
we're playing the in biggest stadium in the world of soccer
All the people that thought Sepultura would never make it
everybody here is watching..." and we turned it up...
you know, we would play anything faster than we ever did
[Eric De Hass / Rock Hard Brazil] : many kids identify themselves with them, because they were poor
they started out without anything, they just like wanted to play Metal
and managed to make a living out of it...
Sepultura is our big triumph, our flag of Brazilian Heavy Metal
[Toninho / Sepultura Fan Club] in the past Brazil was not recognized as a country that had Heavy Metal
but today it is recognized as a country of Heavy Metal because of Sepultura
Talking about Sepultura outside of Brazil is like talking about Pele or the Amazon...
Sepultura belongs to Brazil it is very important
a few years after I got into Sepultura
they surprised me when they added traditional Brazilian instruments into their music
this shocked a lot of people in Metal community, including their own record company
I think the owner said... he laughed as like :
why they wanna go with a bunch of naked Indians in the middle of the Amazon...?
why they're not just recording the album in New York? you know, something like that...
i think he didn't understand at first but definitely when he became focused, he had the project..
"that was awesome man, you know, I think people like got blown away..."
SEPULTURA - Roots]
I believe in our fate
We don't need to fake
It's all we wanna be
Watch me Freak !
through my country fall under the idea that we should copy America
and music goes under that too...
I think it sucks, 'cause I don't we should copy States i think we should have our own identity, you know...
[SEPULTURA - Kaiowas]
(Tokyo - Japan)
"That could never happen in America"
dude, that is a huge subway system...
I saw in Brazil how a country's culture can be incorporated into Metal music
but wut about Japan? a placed stereotyped for its obsession for western culture
its also known for its hard-working salary men conformity, and extreme organization
none of which seems very Metal to me...
so what happens to Metal's rebellious spirit when it mixes with Japanese culture?
hopefully I'll find out at Loud Park, the biggest Metal festival in Asia
[LAMB OF GOD - Walk with me in Hell]
- is it the first time you came to Japan
[Tom Araya / SLAYER] : we played at a theater, it had like 3000 seaters at theater
and they were all... everybody was sitting in their seats and they had ushers and every ail...
[Kerry King / SLAYER] : so we came here, not having any idea what was gonna happen
not believing they were gonna sit down,
somehow there's no way you can sit down and watch a Slayer show...
it just ain't gonna happen...
and the minute we started playing, they got up and rushed to the front...
and the promoter at the time, freaked out !
they had never seen an audience just get off their seat and rush...
we stood there playin' and all of a sudden while we were playin', you could see all the ushers were like doing this...
and made everybody have back in their seats...
and everbody is told for the rest of the show they sat in their seats... they did this...
now the Japanese are moshing, now the Japanese are body-surfing, so...
we've seen that complete evolution from when
it wasn't loud at all, to now it's kinda like common place
[SLAYER : War Ensemble]
( The sport is war... a total war )
( When the end is a slaughter )
( The final swing is not a drill )
( It's how many people I can kill... )
[Masa Itoh - Rock City TV] : I think Japanese Metal fans way of thinking is different from western people's way of thinking
for example if you ask them if Metal expresses their feelings of...
oppression and dissatisfaction... most of them would probably say "No"
in the West, if you're looking for rebellion or feel isolated in society
you would be drawn to Metal music
this is not the case in Japan
[Katsuya Minamida : Kabe University] for example, fans at Rock festivals are very couteous
if they throw down their garbage, later they'll pick it up and perhaps bring it home with them
if you're a Metal fan, you'll maintain your demonic image
during the concert you will appear very demonic...
but once outside the concert, you go back to your couteous self
usually I wear suits and necktie..
that is my normal every life...
listening to hard music like Metal at home or at a concert
changes my daily life dramatically...
it makes me feel happier and my feelings burst wide open...
[Lars Ulrich : Metallica] sometimes Japans gets a little bit of a bad rap from people
because of the way people kind of interact at the shows
or the lack of inner action or whatever...
to me that's horseshit ! I mean it's just a different way of expressing themselves
and we love going there
and we love all the tooth brushes we get
we were wondering of course at the beginning if there was anything...
...we had bad dental hygene or bad breath of whatever...
but then again we realized that it's just their love it's their way of showing love...
here, have a tooth brush with some Japanese teddy bear on it or whatever...
and it's was like: "ok, thank you"...
- do you like Metal - yeah... I like Metal !
ok and cut... yes, thank you, I wish all my interviews were that easy...
[�� �с� : ����� ��ѐ���]
at Loud Park I found a new generation of Japanese Metal fans
but now I'm on the hunt for some of the old guard to discover how Metal arrived in this country
rumor has it, they hang out at Blackmore's
a small bar named after Deep Purple legendary guitarist "Richie Blackmore"
Deep Purple arrived in Japan in August 1972
before that I thought that Deep Purple had an organized and structured way of playing...
but it wasn't like that,
they were bringing more and more improvisation into their performance
the finale was crazy... we had never seen that before
everyone rushed to the front of the Budokan stage
Richie Blackmore was turning the guitar upside down
that was the night Deep Purple became a legend
there is a current trend among men in their 50's...
they reunite with old band members from university or high school and play together
and what they always play in the studio is "Highway Star"
everyone wants to be the guitarist and only play the solo...
but I heard the vocalists have a hard timebecause the key is too high
"Kiss" arrived a few years later
when they came off the plane they were in full makeup and costume
the problem was that they couldn't pass through immigration like this
so they had to take the makeup off in order to pass through immigration
afterwards they re-applied all their makeup and changed back into their costumes
then they came out of immigration in full stage costume...
thousands of fans flooded them
if you see the videos of when they arrived in 70's you might faint
[Yoshiyuri Ohno - Journalist] : the bang of the pyro and their use of fire was the biggest shock to us
but wearing make up on stage was pretty well accepted
In Japan because of the makeup Kiss also reminds us of Kabuki theatre
because of that I think a lot of Japanese people felt a certain intimacy with them
[KISS : Rock and Roll All Nite]
after spending some time in Japan
I realized there's a lot more going on than just obsession with Western culture
this place is unlike anywhere I've ever experienced
but I still need to know if the Japanese have done anything unique with Heavy Metal music
welcome, it's a good time to go and meet Marty Friedman "the guitar god"
[Marty Friedman] I'm a multi-platinium artist from a major band called Megadeth
that has rocked Japan so many times rocked the whole world...
and yet I choose to live in Japan and play Japanese pop music
and be on Japanese variety TV shows
In Japan Taboos are off
I mean there's all kinds of mixes and...
for example, i'm about to do this project that was telling you about before called Death Panda
where I'm playing this full-on Metal music
but it's gonna be sung by 48 teenage girls...
that could never happen in America, in other countries or you know where or the way I grew up
every single culture has something really cool to offer
and Metal you know, I think it was like America and England... you know what I mean?
and then other countries did their own stant on it
and Japan, my favorite kind of Japanese Metal is Visual K music
[SEX MACHINEGUNS]
Visual K is a Phenomenon it's unbelievable...
it's guys that are dressed up in gorgeous, I guess kind of "Glam meets Goth, meets really extravagant Heavy Metal"
not Twisted Sister guys wearing their moms clothes kind of feminine... the makeup, it's beautiful...
of all the bands that were doing Visual music X-Japan became the biggest
and by far the most versatile musically
[Yoshiki / X-Japan] : I started playing the piano when I was 4... the classical piano...
the first concert I saw was Kiss
I think I was 9 or 10 years old, I went to see Kiss with my mother
so that put a lot of changes in my life...
at the beginning, the music industry hated us
we were like black sheep of the family, completely...
nobody wanted to interview us...
but eventually we sold twenty million albums, so they had no choice...
X- Japan is probably the first thing that really got me into Japanese Rock music
and why? because it's got the fastest heaviest music next to the sappy sappy ballads
and I happen to love sappy ballads
but like I would never as an American have the guts
to put out an album next a song that sounds like "Fight Fight With Fire"
you know, they got songs that sound like Barry Manilow
they come right after like these full-on Metal epics, and i'm like: "how can they do this?"
and the people who listen to the Japanese domestic Rock and heavy sounding music
they don't even know really that the international Heavy Metal bands exist
it is very like that they've never heard of Metallica
so it is very interesting how these two genres can exist and they don't like each other
and they sound so similar...
people who like the international bands like at Loud park
they don't think the Japanese stuff is very cool...
so what is Visual K? I guess what makes it "Not Metal" in your opinion?
[Mirai Kawashima / Sigh] : because Metal is something cool... that's the answer !
[Mumbai, India]
"it's just like the sky above us, it is one for everyone..."
oh my God... check these out
dude, you're gonna find "Global Metal" here?
just arrived in Mumbai, India we have to find "Global Metal" among all these...
- I have a really sound *** idea - what's that?
if someone bust it out to colored paper, you just might spot it...
so far I've visited countries with well-established Metal scenes
but in India the scene is just getting started, and no major Metal bands have played here
back in school, I would always read about India in my anthropology textbooks
it's one of the world's oldest and most distinct cultures
but I can see it's quickly modernizing...
and Metal isn't the only western influence that's starting to creep in...
people love the camera in india, they know this is a film, a film is being made
and they're excited, you know, they can't get close enough...
they case and point...
I have to say it's pretty obvious that this is the home of Bollywood
[Sahil "Demonstealer" Makhija / Demonic Resurrection] Bollywood in short is :
a really really cheesy movie with hell of a lot of songs and dancings around trees...
it's one of the biggest industries in India, I mean...
[Prashant Shaw / Exhumation] : and all the in-keeps and remixes and Indie pop stuff
...whatever the channels are showing that's what people are absorbing
not just among young people, throughout... I mean right on the villages to the most religious guy in India probably
they're all fans of the Bollywood music...
[Nolan Lewis / Kryptos] : it's gotta be catchy, it's gotta be bouncy... you can shake that ass, stuff like that...
I mean, it's just nothing, it's... there's no meaning to it
[Atul Sharma / Metalindia.net] : it's a very soft timid kind of music
for very weak-hearted kind of people
I don't relate to all that, I want my music to be strong
so that's why I relate to Metal...
Metal fans in Mumbai have told me about the problems they have finding venues to put on Metal shows
recently they've been having them at a beach motel at the north side of the city
a venue that's more known for Hindu weddings than Extreme Metal concerts...
[Demonic Resurrection]
for me Metal is something special
I grew up with [Judas] Priest, [Iron] Maiden, [Black] Sabbath and Dio and all these bands
and everytime I put on a CD, I feel like... I practically move to the edge sometimes...
people who listen to Metal are very passionate about the music
I guess they can identify with it it gives you some sort of identity of your own
it also makes a statement that we aren't exactly gonna just be force-fed
and conform to anything and everything that society asks us to do...
we have our own way of thinking, our own way of living
you know, we wanna follow our own path in life
specially when society tells you what to do, who you're supposed to be...
way you're supposed to walk who you're supposed to marry, all that shit...
it's not like the American system or like the system in the West, where the kid moves out after he turns 18
people still live with their parents till they grow older
[Anamt Dwivedi & Vincent Pereira / Prakalp] it's like our parent are... they are our gods
whatever they say, has to be right first
it might not be necessarily correct all the time...
- how do your parents feel while you listen to Metal music? - [cursing in indian]
[scorning in Indian]
"quite playing the fool", you know, "you've passed the age now"
"get serious about your studies, your career ", "you have to get married soon"
why? and what for...?
"what is this crap you're listening to for God's sake?" "please stop listening to all this..."
[Bhayanak Maut]
on one side, we've got Metal show, a local Mumbai Metal show...
on the other side, we have a traditional Indian wedding so, let's go and check it out...
people here are mostly religious, very Orthodox
people are only opening up to new things and becoming different and open-minded...
the Metal crowds are all people who are actually like many of them engineers
or the graduates, post-graduates from colleges
although actually intellectual they think but they're ready to stand up for what they believe..
there's a lot of discrimination that happens, otherwise in society out here
in god's, creed, religion, sex, whatever you wanna call it...
but within Metal, the way you open to people of any cast, religion, creed, whatever...
there's no specifications or classifications in Metal
it's just... it combines a whole community together
we as a band follow one religion that it's called Music
we originally... I am a Hindu by birth and the others are Christian, they're...
people who follow different religions... alright?
but you know, that doesn't hamper us from making music which is universal...
music is you know, one language...
it's just like this sky above us... it's one for everyone...
so we can have a guy wearing a Ghandi shirt and a guy wearing an Iron Maiden shirt...
- in the same band...? - yes
we have Ghandi in our hearts we have Mahmata Ghandi in our hearts...
- and [Iron] Maiden in your heart... - Maiden's in my heart
it's been an honor for all of us
and may you succeed in all walks of life
this is considered very sacred and very holy
- and we are giving India to you... - thank you, thank you very much
- do I wear it? - if you wish to... yes
- do people wear them? - yes they do
here we go... this is Hindi-Black Metal.
visiting India makes me realize that my anthropology textbooks are seriously out of date...
this country is going through massive changes
and my new Indian Metal friends are part of an emerging middle class
for them Metal is a way to connect to a Global culture
and break free from restrictions they feel in their traditional society
but India isn't the only country in this region going through massive changes...
[Beijing, China]
"They long to express their dark emotions..."
China is increasingly opening up to the West
but the government still keeps tight control on the music and culture they officially let into the country
and at this point I'm not even sure we'll get through customs
traveling with 300 kilograms of film equipments on tourist visas
In China I will be known as S. Duhh
I think it's kind of haslte trying to get the visa and stuff like that
so we don't really know what's gonna happen
- what are we gonna say? - we'll say we're here on a holiday
We just came to Beijing for a Holiday because it's in the neighborhood
next please
- hello - thank you
that was easy
- did they ask you anything? - nothing, I just walked right through
'Welcome to China'.
biking in Beijing man... I don't know
I don't know it's good for the health exactly
it feels good to ride, but...
token on the pollution to be honest...
China is the home to 20% of world's population
and where probably 90% percent of my Metal T-shirts were made !
and yet like India, no major Metal band has ever played here
but searching the Internet, I found one place where they sell Metal music
the 666 Rock Shop in downtown Beijing
- hey guys, how are you? - Welcome to China
[Wang Xiao - 666 Rock Shop] in the past Chinese youth just listened
We listened to teachers, parents...
and accepted what we were told
We didnt have our own independent thoughts...
...and we didn't have freedom of speech
through the music we could begin to express ourselves...
...and do what we want to do, not caring what other people think
[Yang Yu - Painkiller Magazine] : the older generation, including my parents,
represent a traditional Chinese education...
...which is Confucian and Communist education mixed together
Chinese parents don't know how to face a boy who wants to have long hair...
get a tattoo and learn to play guitar...
[Zhang Fan - Principal, MIDI Music School] : the MIDI school was established in 1993
back then China had just opened up
...and many young people wanted to learn modern music
at the school they learn all genres...
including Metal and Blues, as well as Jazz and Improvisation
for 20 years China was completely closed off culturally from the outside world
in terms of music, Western Rock had a history of 50 years
we had to learn it in 10 years time
Heavy Metal drums solitary confinement...
in a lot of countries big bands from West come and tour,
but in China it's very different,
it hasn't had major Metal bands play here...
how did Metal come to China?
80% of youngsters came to know Metal from listening to a band called Tang Dynasty
it was the first Metal band in China, and an outstanding one
now that I'm here, it's a bit surreal actually...
[Kaiser Kuo] : I'm Kaiser, and I was born in up-state New York,
and around the time I was 12, I think I bought my first Kiss album
and it wasn't until I moved to China for first time in 1988
then I started playing in a pure Metal band
that band was called Tang Dynasty
the real story of my coming here deciding to play Rock starts with a little shitty Roland cube 60 amp and a guitar
I came out here just sure I was gonna find some Metal musicians
when I got here, the first thing that happens, I ran into this guy named Dingu
Dingu, who's got some fuckin' Blues chops, and he was like vanning strings as he's sliding off down on them..
but one thing he didn't know how to do really was to make a guitar really overdrive...
he didn't really know... I mean he didn't have the *** box and anything like that... so anyway...
then the lessons began,
where I did my whole through Jack Black, you know, School of Rock, history of Rock lessons... the family trees
and I said: Dingu, you are a Metal guy... I mean...
it's clear to me that you are a Metal... you should be a fuckin' headbanger... I mean you ARE...
he can sing like a goddamn banshee, and he had like this bewitching charisma
I mean just a beautiful stage presence
eyes new dude, man we're gonna make the greatest band that China will ever see..
a phenomenon like Tang Dynasty, we did it all well and we packed stadiums...
most of the people that came were not Metal fans,
they were just sort of interested in this phenomenon, they thought it was, you know, a curiosity...
when we used to tour, people would just sit there sort of slap-jobs, not knowing what the fuck we were...
I'd hear people cussing on each other : [in Chinese...]
which means: hey, buddy is that hair real...?
the Metal look works for Chinese males
this shit spreads out of our heads quite naturally and it looks pretty good
that echoes also with Naluvu great warriors at ancient times...
sometimes they'd tie it up like this or whatever but it's long hair... and that *** for sure
long hair means sort of martial powers...
Tang Dynasty is how most people heard about Metal in China
but how did they find out all about Western Metal?
prior to say 1994 all stemming bit of music that came into China that was of the Metal ilk
was from students or children of diplomats, or children of like multi-national corporations
who made tapes or made copies or whatever... and that stuff circulated...
what really turned on the tap here, was the advent of what had called CD catalog cutouts
when an artist is cut out of *** from record company
to realize some tax saving, they destroy inventory,
and of course they don't actually destroy it,
they call, you know like Toni Fezuchi's trucking company and comes and take 'em straight to the shipping yard
and hauls away to China...
you could find millions of these CDs from any genre of music
Jazz, Blues, Classical, Metal music... everything
suddenly all the stuff was available, dirt cheap and really affordable for Chinese people
most of it was shit, I mean there's a reason why these artists were cut out from the ***
but there are always diamonds in there as well...
Heavy Metal in China is has come a long way since Tang Dynasty and illegal Glam Metal CDs...
In Beijing I discovered a growing underground music scene
a scene that's producing the darkest most extreme Metal I've heard on my journey so far
[Nong Yong / Ritual Day] : my name is Nong Yong.
I am now 34 years old
I have always been very interested in music since childhood, but in Metal since 1998
I was very shocked that music could be played in a such way
so I organized a band and started to play Metal music
at that time I was a part of the first wave of people playing this type of music
I possess a certain kind of emotion, whenever I face trials in my life I feel very dark
how do I express these dark feelings? I choose to use Metal music
The most important thing about Metal is that it gives young people a tool...
...to express their emotions in a very frank and direct way
they long to express their own hatred and emotions
I grew up during the tail end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
in my childhood if youngsters had hatred for each other...
...they would get together at the front gate of the school and have these brutal fights
so I think that Metal has helped the Chinese government solve some social problems...
...because youngsters can express their hatred and emotions through Metal
the music of Chinese Metal groups reflects "injustice"
...political inadequacy and corruption in government
it also reflects the low standard of living, poverty and unfair treatment
I think that we're coming into a time now where China is finding its footing
it can be something that it's at once distinctly modern and unashamedly modern
and distinctly and unabashedly Chinese...
that's the movement I wanna be a part of...
so I just traveled to two of the world's most populist countries,
India and China, where no major Metal bands have ever toured...
and yet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
an impoverish nation with the largest Muslim population in the world
Has had big several Metal concerts
even while under an oppressive dictatorship...
[Jakarta, Indonesia] "It's like a mass demonstration..."
we're now facing the fifth or fourth the biggest population in the world
[Wendi Putranto - Rolling Stone, Indonesia] : we're nearly 300 million people living in Indonesia...
unemployment here is staggeringly how bad unemployment is,
[Jason Tedjasukmana - Time Magazine, Indonesia] : I mean officially it's only like 10% or 11%
but unofficially it's probably more like 40%
and that's a lot of people... it's a big country
[Barney Greenway / NAPALM DEATH] : you could be in like the most plush copra high rise area
and then right next to it there's all shanties right there on the street
I mean people are litterally living in the gutter
[Andre Tiranda / Siksakubur] : and it's ironic to see so many poor people in the country...
who has a mountain of diamonds, sea of gold...
that's ironic, huh? that's Indonesia...
"nonconformity in my inner self..."
[SEPULTURA : Inner Self] [Surabaya, Indonesia / July 11, 1992]
( walking these dirty streets )
( with hate in my mind... )
( feeling scorn of world, )
(I won't follow your rules... )
( blame and lies... )
( contradications arise... )
I think there's a whole thing connected to Brazil, and where I'm from
that's connects to Third World lyrics, 'cause this is their lyrics...
when I'm singing about Inner Self, of growing up in this fucked up streets and shit...
the Indonesian fans reading some of those lyrics, they'd feel onnected to it...
Sepultura are coming from a Third [World] country as well
and Indonesia with poor, injustice, everywhere starving people, you know, the corruption...
the're singing about that too in their lyrics
it so matches with happened in this country all over years...
halfway to the show, the kids got so crazy, fuckin' place in chaos, Hell broke loose, you know, mosh-pits...
couple of minutes after that they stopped the entire show and had these huge bamboo sticks...
and they were like kinda beating up the first row of kids
and they made 20000 people sit down on the floor without making one sound...
I've never seen anything like that in my life, you know
none of us, man... I feel we were like "holy shit"...
we played for the first time ever here,
we're so fuckin' proud to be playing in front of you,
I'm sorry for anything that happened here tonight...
it's a lot similar, the kids in Brazil or India or Eastern Europe
Rebellion... fuckin' pissed off, real pissed about the shit,
the way their life is... it's how they had to grow in this shithole
and it's pretty much they're gonna die in this shithole,
so what do you do about it? so you know, Metal comes in...
[METALLICA / Jakarta, Indonesia / April 10, 1993]
people were coming from everywhere From Donggala, from Surabaya, even from Dahli
Arian 13 / Seringai] everyone from median people come just to see Metallica
I had to sell my father's shoes, so I can afford the tickets
yes, I had my father angry at me...
I remember driving to the gig, there were a fuck lot of people outside
and the stadium was in a very rich part of Jakarta
where a lot of the politicians and a lot of the old money family lives
so here were thousands and thousands of young kids and a lot of kind of adolescent
when Metallica was on the other side of the stadium walls,
and we were playing and bunch of people couldn't get in so on
and obviously pretty much all hell broke loose out there
we're standing up on stage, playing, doing our thing
and you can see like fires and smoke and all the police sirens and all that crap...
and it was just... they basically just fuckin' tore the whole neighborhood up
army chased us, and they were like... I was yelling "sir, I got tickets, I want to get into stadium"
"you can't get into stadium..."
and he was like "your black T-shirts fucks! you are all communists!" and then starts swaying everthing...
...and we just ran way
yeah, I got hit in my head too, even though I got the ticket...
they just hit everything... no matter... whether you got ticket or not.. they just hit everything...
after the Metallica's concert, they banned all the Metal shows they banned all the Rock concerts
from the international acts of course,
cause they said that, it kind of brings a bad impact for Indonesian youth
'cause you know, it's like a mass demonstration... just like what we had in 1998
the Mei revolution, while Suharto stepped down by the students movement
[Franki Raden . Professor] : after Suharto stepped down, there was some sort of leads of this
like holding back anarchy, that during the Suharto era you cannot [couldnot] really express...
so everywhere people saw themselves sort of liberated from all this oppression...
like 52 years is not a short period
so they feel like "now I can do almost anything"...
not long after Suharto stepped down we have very a political underground scene here
[Siksakubur]
[Seringai]
[Jasad]
in Jakarta most Metal bands sing about social and political issues...
something I associate more with Punk Rock than Metal,
but Indonesia's most popular Metal band "Tengkorak",
has started to incorporate more controvesial ideas...
what are you trying to say through Tengkorak's music?
we have some themes about our disagreement with the Capitalist countries...
...as they always push Third World countries into a corner
[Ombat Masution / Tengkorak] : as you know the majority of Indonesians are Muslims...
...and because of this they say we are a "terrorist country"
... and we do not agree with or respect that statement.
most of the song have a very strong poiltical or social commentary
but there is one song which is called I think "Destroy Zionism" what do you look past through that song?
Zionism is a system made by the Jews
these Jewish people have this system which is not good...
because they have this goal to this destroy Islamic people
Zionists must be destroyed
They should be no more
if necessary, Israel must be eliminated from the global map
people who would hear that song and then...
...see your jacket with a Swastika and a slash through it
you think they might see that as a bit of a contradiction?
it is not the Jewish people that we are against...
...only their system
the right wing politics and their religious leader
they're kind of more to fitch people of Indonesia
You got to live in Islam way
me, I was born in Islam, but I don't trust that religion anymore
'cause for me, religion is "individual"
it's only between you and God...
Muslims teach about peace, every religion teaches about peace
they don't teach to make enemies or to make war with others
those are the people who impose their will on others
and they are not good people, no matter which religion...
they could be Muslims, Christians or whoever, and they are not good people in my opinion...
- there you go - I'm ready !
I'm in a mosque in Indonesia
and it's the end of Ramadan
so it's Friday, so it's the big pray day
and we're going in with our new friend Rudi,
it's the first foot-bath I had in a long time...!
Muslims ideally should be like me or like the other people you see
very common, they pray, they go to work, like me...
Normal
They're the Muslims...
Metal is for my life, Metal is for life
Make relationship with friends just hear the music and take the spirit
it's only for life...
but religion is my relation particularly with my God
Jerusalem, Israel
"More scared of the Living..."
Metal music has never shied away from controversy
it has always rebelled against authority and stood up against mainstream religion
but as I was reminded in Indonesia, in rare cases in can be a voice of hatred
well there's one place that had a history of dealing with hatred
it's Israel
so I'm curious to know how this has affected the Metal being created here
I think there isn't any other place special as Jerusalem
[Kobi Farhi / Orphaned Land] the culture of this place, this land, it's very complicated
it's very ancient on one hand, and it's very mixed on ther other hand
we have here a Jewish cemetery
we have a church over here
and we have a mosque over there...
all Jerusalem is like this, it's some kind of a harmony of colors, of prayings...
everyone was here, Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed...
well I think this it's important for an artist to reflect his place, his culture
the fact that we live in probably one of the most controvesial places on earth...
[Eran Segal / "Whorecore" / 'Evil' Haim] : ...and probably one of the more hostile places on earth
it gets in, there's a fact of violence everywhere and inbalance, stuff like that...
and probably that's why we could be heavier than other bands in other places of the world
[Butchered / Arallu] : when I got into the genre of Black Metal, mostly listened to Norwegian Black Metal
I loved them very much and I really connected with them
in retrospect they were singing about stories that were told to them...
... mother, to mother, to mother
handed down for generations, but...
then we started to see with our own eyes, what they were writing about in their books
...because we live it for real
[Arallu]
[Tishai Sweartz - Raven Music] if you witness to something and you come to write a song
you song will be more real than someone who just read about it in history lessons...
because we live in a country where insanity became closer to reality
here in Jerusalem, here in Kottel and the enitire region...
the three large religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity are responsible for all of these wars
always... the Jews slaughtered Christians, Christians slaughtered Muslims,
Muslims slaughtered the Jews, and the cycle keeps repeating itself...
when kids in Israel turn 18, they have to go to the army
that's one of the things that Jew may most play extreme music
as I finish the school I'm supposed to go the army, but fuck that, I'm not be a part of that or do that...
and I wanna do another thing, I wanna play in a band
I wanna go travel the world and meet other people that like the same things that I like
I believe if we don't do our army service, our country will be destroyed
it not like I enjoy it, but if we don't step forward...
...we might get swallowed up
that's it, you just have to do it...
[Salem]
at first Salem was occupied with the occult
[Nir Nakav / Salem] : hence the name, you know, Salem, witches...
but then you realize that your reality is scarier than any *** demon you can summon...
like it's scarier that I'm walking down the street...
...and someone will show up and explode, just because he hates me...
I'm usually not scared to walk down the street and be attacked by demons,
or Pinhead from Hellraiser...
doesn't scare me...
I watch their movies, I think they're funny, I like 'em...
I'm more scared of the living, and their actions...
someone at Israel Parliment got mad at Salem
because we covered a song that was identified with the Holocaust...
and he said "Holocaust is sacred, you cannot play a Metal music to it,
you cannot play it now in bars or where people headbang or dance or hug or...
Holocaust is sacred...
there was someone else from the parliment who said :
"wait, it's the best vehicle for new generation to learn about the Holocaust"...
[SLAYER :Angel of Death]
Auschwitz, the meaning of pain.
The way that I want you to die...
one song, it's always been particularly contentious and that is the song "Angel Of Death" by Slayer,
I mean how do you feel about the song?
Auschwitz... The meaning of pain. - The way that I want you to die...
How do you feel abou that?
I don't know if Slayer actually meant of...
I don't know of their intention was to hurt Jewish people when the sang about it...
I don't think they are a Nazi band...
[Maor Appelbaum - Producer / Engineer] : I think that song is probably the most controversial song in the history of Metal
and I won't lie to you, it'll also disturb me...
because my father was in the Holocaust...
but I don't look at it in a negative way
I do play it on my stereo and I do play it as a DJ
so I don't take it personally...
[Yotam 'Defiler' Avin / Abed] : I translate Slayer's "Angel Of Death" to they were against the Holocaust...
if they were for it , they would deny it...
won't tell a huge 4 mintues story about it...
- so you think "Angel of Death" is sort of... - it's a monument
it's against it because it's exposing the horrors of it...?
it's a monument of the horrors that shouldn't be repeated...
although Slayer is not a Nazi Metal band
there are a small number of bands out there that do promote Nazi ideas...
Varg Vikernes otherwise known as Kahn Grishnackh, was in prison for church burning and murder in Norway
and is known for his Fascist and racist ideas...
I was surprised to find out that there's also an Israeli connection to this story
the year was 1990, Salem was just after releasing the live demo called "Millions Slaughtered"
it was time of the tape-trading and the Norwegian Black Metal was just started
that's how Grishnackh heard us...
the title song "Millions Slaughtered" talks about the Holocaust...
so I guess being whoever he was, he wrote us back "that the music was great but those lyrics are stupid"
"it's too bad that Hitler didn't finish the job that he started"
and it was just before the Gulf War,
"may Saddam finish you all..."
and again, you know, this was not just lyrics that were written and were dettached from it
it's a part of us...
so obviously he we were getting angrier...
so we got a very angry reply,
using some cuss words, I'm not sure you want me to repeat here...
and about a couple of months later, police knocks on lead singers door and goes :
"who hates you in Norway?"
we had just got a bomb in the mail...!
anywhere that we go everybody only knows the bad news
the war and stuff like that...
and we try to show or to be some kind of a good news coming out of Israel
when we played in Turkey, you'd always see people in the crowd...
they sing with us together and they do like this with their hands
this is what usually the Muslims are doing when they pray...
it's like they are holding the Quran book...
it's amazing, it's Metal people...
all these wars between religions,
all these massacres in the name of God,
this is a big confusion...
we all believe in same God
and we can stop all this bloodshed and confusion and war...
I mean if we think about the Dark, we did nothing,
there is plenty of darkness in this world...
I think this is why we should speak about the Light...
of all the Metal fans that contacted me from around the world
I was most shocked to hear from people in Iran
but because of the increased tensions in the area my visa application was denied
and I couldn't get into their country...
so instead we're meeting the Iranians in Dubai
where Metalheads from throughout the region are gathering for Desert Rock.
the only Metal festival in the Middle East...
[Dubai, United Arab Emirates]
"They consider it anti-moralistic"
my name is Armin, and I'm 28, turned 29 two days ago...
[Armin - Fan, Iran] : and I'm an engineer, a mechincal engineer...
that's what I do for living...
but Metal has been with me since my teenage era
and I truely love it...
can you tell me about some of the restrictions that had been placed on getting access to Metal in Iran?
you don't have any CDs sold, this is the biggest restriction
the music cannot go on
you cannot sell Metal T-shirts
before that even jeans were forbidden,
long hair... I was just caught up for just having long hair by the police
[Ali - Musician, Iran] : they took me to the police office
"why do you have long hair like that?" and...
"are you worshipping Satan?!" or "are you in those kind of bad Metal bands?!"
[Maher - Musician, Saudi Arabia] : I got caught by the religious police
for wearing a Slayer T-shirt and having long hair...
I was just back from Slayer concert in Turkey
I almost forgot how restricted this thing is...
[Abed - Fan, Lebanon] I know a couple of friends who were put in jail
they had their heads shaved and they were beaten up,
because the authorities really thought they were Satanists... and they were not,
they just looked Metal...
they consider it anti-moralistic
and they say that it's bringing a lot of excitement,
which is not good for a music, like in Islamic context...
[SDS / Tehran, Iran - 2004]
there had been some limited gigs like two ro three years ago...
there was this gig and a band called SDS
they were covering live like from Morbid Angel and Slayer,
but no vocals was [were] allowed, they said vocals are too harsh and aggressive...
and we had to be sitted !
later on they cancelled all the show...
with the system that we have right now we cannot perform Western music,
not only Metal...
and so, the Metal community in Iran has grown really isolated from what had been in the real world...
someone that we knew has sent us a picture,
they had gone to Iran, to go visit family...
and they took a picture of Slayer spray painted on the wall in Iran,
and they took a picture standing next to it, so to identify that...
they were there and this was there and this is Iran...
and I just kinda looked at that and I thought : wow, Slayer in a Muslim country...
you know what I mean?
that had to be is just, screams "death" !
we met with Tom in Japan
and he described a photograph of a Slayer logo that had been spray painted on the wall...
wow... yeah, we got lots of that, yeah...
have you ever seen something like that in your country?
I have done something like that in my country... ok?
In a lot of the Middle East,
conservative governments and religious authorities repeatedly censor and restrict Metal music
but the city of Dubai seems completely open to anything Western...
and it's one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world...
so I am going to talk to some Metal fans who were born and raised here,
to get their thoughts on the spread of Metal throughout the region...
my full name like in Arabi tradition is "Omar Abdula Aziz Mohammed Khan Abdula"
our licenses are like this wide, driver's license...
basically this is called Qandora or a lot of the experts call it a Dish-Dash...
and this is a Qatran...
basically it's not a Ku Klux Klan outfit,
it's basically mostly white to reflect the heat of the sun, 'cause it's really hot here and gets really uncomfortable
they do come in different colors and they're extremely comfortable and they have a very good ventilation...
good for playing Metal too, keeps the air flowing...
actually, in high-school I played "Purple Haze" on stage with a black one of these and a bandana...
Metal is generally coming from the West,
and I guess in a way it's a part of process of Globalization
what's your opinion on Metal and it's spread around the world?
if you say Globalization I know a lot of...
... like a 1500 years ago a lot of the ideas from the East during Dark Ages crept from the East to the West,
and I think it's just a cycle,
you guys discovered something cool, ok, bring it over ok, that's a nice instrument the Arabs play, their uod...
ok, let's use that one in my song
the Indian have the Sitar, ok let's mix that...
I don't think it's a bad idea when it naturally happens,
so when we talk about the IMF and the World Bank, then we can discuss...
with the help of Internet, obviously Internet was the main driver for Globalization
because it's just easy to reach information, to reach anywhere...
I don't think anyone in the world benefitted from MP3 downloading as much as we did...
[Ahmid - Musician, Saudi Arabia] : because we start discovering new bands through the Internet
downloading their music and listening to it
specially that we couldn't get it, we didn't have any access to it
I apologize to all the bands, but we had to do this, that's the only way we could discover them...
so Lars you know, most of the fans we're meeting around the world
the only way they can get music is by downloading it, the Internet...
how do you feel about that?
I think it great to get, I think it's great, I mean...
obviously it's the way to share the stuff and I think it's awesome...
I think that we were somewhat flabbergasted at some early Internet things that were going on a few years ago...
but we sort of, were appeased with that and we stood champion like everybody else
what the Internet had done, you know
which is a great thing of bringing everything and making everything available and global and so on...
I mean it's just awesome...
listen, at this point if kids can get their hands on the music, then it's a great thing...
[Al-Sharif - Musician, Egypt] : Now you can download music, you can access everthing
so it's easy for most of the people around the Middle East to listen to Metal,
it's gonna grow, it's fuckin' gonna grow...
the Desert Rock festival is like a yearly Anniversary to Metal, basically...
Libanon, Kuweit, Bahrain, Oman, Duha, Saudi-Arabia, you can name every middle eastern country
there're people out here tonight...
it was my first show ever
it was the day after my birthday, best birthday party I could have...
when you have tough times, which in our country is not so scarce,
it's a relief for you...
you truely put all your ambitions, thoughts and dreams into it
you wanna speak out and there aren't as many outlets there should be to do this...
we found this in Metal, it's speaking to us...
it's talking about our problems, it's talking about our wars, about our aggression, about our oppression...
it's giving us a chance to release all this bottled-up anger in a positive way
so we don't have to go and do it in a negative way
a chance to be together and enjoy their time, free of political shit outside...
so this is something more than important...
- it's essentieel. - yeah, it's essential...
[IRON MAIDEN - Hallowed Be Thy Name]
the stories I have heard from fans here have made me realize...
...just how much is at stake for Metalheads in this part of the world...
for some of these fans, Desert Rock is the only place where they can safely show their devotion to Heavy Metal...
and that's far beyond anything that I have had to deal as a Metalhead growing up in Canada
so I traveled over 40000 kilometers since the Wacken festival in Germany
but there's one last stop I have to make
I'm heading back to India, to the city of Bangalore,
where something historic is about to happen...
my favorite band of all time, Iron Maiden is playing the first major Metal show is this country's history...
and with 30000 Indian Metalhead lining up at the gates,
this is one concert that I have to be a part of...
this is the biggest show India will ever have, it's gonna be great...
I don't think you'll hear a louder crowd anywhere in the world, because...
I mean we haven't experienced shows like this...
so you know, it's like 20 years of these panned-off feelings are all gonna come out...
[in Indian]
[IRON MAIDEN - Fear Of the Dark]
aren't you surprised that your music is deeply connected with people from so many different cultures?
[Bruce Dickinson / IRON MAIDEN]
I suppose I should, but after years and years of traveling around the world...
kids are kids...
doesn't matter what culture you're come from,
at least a certain proportion of kids in whatever cultural society
wanna get up and just go "arrrrrghhh", like that...
and we kind of provide their soundtrack...
( have you run your fingers down the wall? )
( Have you felt your neck skin crawl? )
( when you're searching for the light� )
( sometimes when you're scared to take a look,)
( at the corner of the room, )
(you've sensed that something's watching you� )
( fear of the dark... )
standing here with India's new generation of Metalheads
I can feel the excitement in the air
it's like I'm 13 and I'm back at my first Metal show...
I realized on this journey that although Heavy Metal may be part of the process of Globalization
something unique is happening...
Metal connects with people, regadless of their cultural, political, or religious backgrounds...
and these people aren't just absorbing Metal from the West
they're transforming it, creating a new outlet they can find in their traditional cultures...
a voice to express their discontent with chaos and uncertainty that surrounds them in their rapidly changing societies...
and for Metalheads all across the globe,
Metal is more than music,
more than an identity
"Metal is freedom"
"and together we are now a Global Tribe..."
<<< Subtitles Transcribed by Ehsun Safari >>> angryagain_e@yahoo.com
[METALLICA : Fight Fire With Fire]
( Do unto other as they've done to you... )
( but what the hell is this world coming to...? )
( blow the universe into nothingness, )
( nuclear warfare shall lay us to rest... )
( Fight fire with fire )
( ending is near... )
( Fight fire with fire )
( bursting with fear... )
( soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death, )
( the gods are laughing, so take your last breath... )
( Fight fire with fire )
( ending is near... )
( Fight fire with fire )
( bursting with fear... )
( Fight fire with fire... )
"Global Metal"